Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium cultivar Golden Yolynn.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium, commercially known as a garden-type Chrysanthemum and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Golden Yolynnxe2x80x99.
The new cultivar is a product of a mutation induction program conducted by the Inventor in Alva, Fla. The objective of the program is to create new garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new Chrysanthemum originated by exposing unrooted cuttings of the Chrysanthemum cultivar Glowing Lynn, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,038, to X-ray radiation in July, 1998 in Alva, Fla. Following the radiation treatment, the cuttings were rooted and terminal apices were removed to promote lateral branch development. After lateral branches from the pinch reached sufficient size, terminal cuttings were harvested, planted and flowered in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within this population in January, 1999. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form, attractive ray floret color and good garden performance.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. since March, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Golden Yolynn has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light, intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Golden Yolynnxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Golden Yolynnxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit; dense and full plants.
3. Uniform and freely flowering habit.
4. Decorative-type inflorescences.
5. Golden yellow-colored inflorescences with bronze-colored centers.
6. Natural season flowering in early October in the Northern Hemisphere.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum are most similar to plants of the the cultivar Glowing Lynn. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Glowing Lynn in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about five days earlier than plants of the cultivar Glowing Lynn.
2. Ray florets of the new Chrysanthemum and the cultivar Glowing Lynn differed in color as ray florets of the cultivar Glowing Lynn were orange-bronze.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum can also be compared to plants of the Chrysanthemum cultivar Legend, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,404. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Legend in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum were shorter and more mounded than plants of the cultivar Legend.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about three weeks later than plants of the cultivar Legend.
3. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Legend.
4. Inflorescences of plants of the new Chrysanthemum had dark bronze centers whereas inflorescences of plants of the cultivar Legend did not have dark bronze centers.